Burgerville Turns Waste Oil Into Biodiesel

We recently reported on a McDonalds franchise owner running his cars on the leftover vegetable oil from his restaurants; now another burger chain has upped the ante. Burgerville, a Vancouver, WA-based "fast casual" restaurant chain, has begun converting its used cooking oil into biodiesel. Through an agreement with Portland company MRP Services, the used oil is picked up and transported to a processing plant where it is converted to biodiesel. Before the current arrangement, the oil was shipped to Asia and typically used in the creation of cosmetics and soap. For Burgerville, whose menu includes regional ingredients like Oregon Country beef and Tillamook cheese, this isn't their first foray into sustainable business practices. Last August, the company announced it would pay for its electricity by purchasing wind power, a move that avoided adding 17.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide to the region annually. ::Burgerville via ::AlternativeSource.org and ::OregonLive.com